Bringing clean air to more consumers through modern payments

Goal: Make clean, breathable air attainable for a broader consumer base.

Molekule is the San Francisco-based clean air company using science to reinvent the air purifier. The company was founded in 2013 when Yogi Goswami grew fed up with watching his asthmatic baby son struggle to breathe in polluted air.

As the world’s first molecular air purifier, Molekule uses a revolutionary nanotechnology to virtually eliminate pollutants, rather than simply trapping them. This fundamentally new approach destroys allergens, mold, bacteria, viruses, and airborne chemicals at the molecular level. The result is cleaner, healthier, breathable air.

There is no question that Molekule’s product has the power to change lives. Yet at $800, the high-tech device comes at a cost.

As the startup looks to grow their business, Molekule is committed to bringing their technology to as many people as possible. By launching a partnership with the modern credit company Affirm, Molekule is helping more consumers gain access to the high-quality air they ought to be breathing.

Pay-over-time payments to support early growth

Molekule’s business is relatively new. The company launched their initial pre-order campaign in 2016, began shipping units in early 2017, and fully launched their e-commerce business that summer.

For Molekule, growing their business is about more than their bottom-line; it’s about helping as many people as possible to breathe better air.

The company recognized that, in order to clean more air, alleviating some of their product’s upfront cost would be key. Molekule decided to introduce financing options, enabling shoppers to spread out the cost of their air purifiers over time.

Rooted in their company values, they opted to partner with Affirm, the financing company grounded in honesty and transparency. Affirm clearly shows customers their payment terms upfront, never charging compounding interest or surprise fees. And through smarter underwriting that quickly and more accurately assesses credit risk, Affirm makes financing available to more people who can responsibly repay.

Upon launching Affirm, Molekule saw a sizeable uptick in sales. Committed to the attainability of their product, the company decided to take things a step further, and launched Affirm’s 0% APR financing, allowing consumers to spread out payments interest-free. They sent out an email campaign, alerting their customer base that a Molekule air purifier was now available for as low as $67 per month. The results were incredible—throughout the campaign’s duration, half of all Molekule purchases were made with Affirm.

Based on this strong response, Molekule decided to implement 0% APR financing as a permanent option on their site. In the week following the launch, the company saw a spike in loan volume to the tune of seven times what they were previously seeing with Affirm. Since then, Molekule’s weekly volume has jumped 100 percent.

Attracting and empowering consumers with payment flexibility

When offered payment flexibility, consumers are empowered to fit Molekule air purifiers into their budgets. Many of the shoppers who buy with Affirm could not have afforded the upfront cost —and, likely, would not have purchased at all.

“People see our product, and they assume it’s expensive, says Duggan. But when they see they can buy it for $67 a month, it’s a lot more manageable.”

The Molekule team has been using Affirm as a marketing tool, broadcasting this “as low as” messaging across their social media channels as a way to draw in new customers. Many who might have otherwise dismissed their product as too expensive become intrigued by the affordable monthly price point.

Affirm is also helping Molekule attract a younger customer base. The typical Molekule customer skews older—likely due to price, and generally greater health-consciousness. But folks of all ages suffer from asthma and allergies, and as air quality continues to worsen, younger consumers also need their air purified. Affirm provides those who need more flexibility a responsible way to buy today and pay later.

And with Affirm’s established commitment to fairness and honesty, consumers can confidently take advantage of financing, without fear of spiraling into debt. Similarly, partners like Molekule can also feel secure knowing that Affirm owns the risk, covering fraud and customer repayments.

Molekule has received dozens of raving testimonials from customers who notice a clear difference in the air they breathe. By offering modern credit options, Molekule is demonstrating their commitment to the accessibility of clean air, and tackling a problem that affects millions.

About the Author

Martin is the Content Manager at Affirm. He has a passion for connecting with audiences through narrative storytelling and has built a career doing just that. When he's not helping people with financial responsibility, you can find him writing and performing music around the Bay Area.